A BREXIT Party organiser has had his advertising costs refunded, after a County Ground rally was cancelled at the last minute.

Conference company Centerplate, which handles bookings at the Swindon Town Football Club ground, said it had reimbursed the £870 costs as a goodwill gesture.

A spokeswoman for the firm said: “Following the short notice cancellation of the booking we took the decision to reimburse the advertising costs incurred by the event organiser as a gesture of goodwill.”

It followed anger expressed by the party’s Tim Page earlier this month, with the Wiltshire organiser threatening to sue in a bid to recoup his costs.

Centerplate had already paid back the booking fee. But Mr Page said he had paid hundreds of pounds on advertising the Brexit Party rally, which was due to be held days before the European Parliament elections in May and was cancelled hours before it was set to go ahead.

Mr Page told the Adver: “I’m quite happy to go to the small claims court.”

He added: “They offered the hire charge back immediately, but in the week leading up to the event we had paid for advertising.

“I have never had any correspondence to explain why they cancelled the booking to explain why they cancelled the booking.

“At the moment, it’s my money. I’d like that £850 back.”

He claimed the rally had been cancelled for “what seemed to me to be party political reasons”.

When the event, which was going to be held in the County Ground’s Legends Lounge, was cancelled Brexit Party members questioned why their rally had been axed when in December 2018 the stadium played host to a Labour Party campaign event.

Ann Widdecombe, now elected as one of three Brexit Party MEPs for the south west, said after the rally had to be pulled: “This decision tells you all you want to know about how much respect our opponents really have for democracy.

“They believe only their view should be heard, which is the hallmark of totalitarians down the ages.”

A party spokesman said: “People are very frustrated and angry about it because it’s yet another attempt to stop democracy. In this case it’s yet another example of people trying to stop the Brexit Party.”

At the time, a Swindon Town spokesman said the Brexit Party event had been cancelled in line with club policy. All bookings are made through Centerplate, a private conferencing firm. The club added: “We have been made aware of an event held at the County Ground of a similar nature in December 2018. However, as this was booked under an individual name, the football club was, at the time, not made aware of this by our conferencing suppliers.”